Overview of the Lost Meteorites of Antarctica field campaigns

The Lost Meteorites of Antarctica project was the first UK-led Antarctic meteorite recovery expedition. The project has successfully confirmed two new high-density meteorite stranding zones in the Hutchison Icefield and Outer Recovery Icefields areas and investigated the geology of three previously unvisited Antarctic nunataks (Turner Nunatak, Pillinger Nunatak, Halliday Nunatak). The project undertook meteorite searching on the ice surface via skidoo reconnaissance and systematic searching and developed a novel pulse induction metal detection system to search for englacial iron-rich meteorites trapped within the upper one meter of ice. In total, 121 meteorites have been recovered from the ice surface searching activities, which are now curated in the United Kingdom at the Natural History Museum London and are available for scientific analysis

An overview of integration policies in Belgium

INTERACT - Researching Third Country Nationals’ Integration as a Three-way Process - Immigrants, Countries of Emigration and Countries of Immigration as Actors of IntegrationThe objective of the paper is to provide a brief review of Belgian migrants integration policies and actors. Three issues are addressed in this paper: the question of public discourses and the political agenda on integration in Belgium; the question of the structuring of integration policies in the country; and finally the question of non-state actors and integration policies and practices. Because integration is also a competence of subnational entities of the Belgian federal State, differences appear between integration conception and policies in Flanders (combining multiculturalist and more assimilationist stances) (Jacobs 2004), in the French community (more influenced by the French assimilationist approach), and in Brussels. However, several trends like the focus on language and socio-professional integration seems to be present in both Flemish- and French-speaking communities even if the policies to achieve those objectives are different. Finally, the paper will try to show the diversity of actors involved in integration practices in Belgium and more specifically the importance of local actors (cities, local associations, migrant associations, etc.).INTERACT is co-financed by the European University Institute and the European Unio

Detecting volcanic sulfur dioxide plumes in the Northern Hemisphere using the Brewer spectrophotometers, other networks, and satellite observations

This study examines the adequacy of the existing Brewer network to supplement other networks from the ground and space to detect SO2plumes of volcanic origin. It was found that large volcanic eruptions of the last decade in the Northern Hemisphere have a positive columnar SO2signal seen by the Brewer instruments located under the plume. It is shown that a few days after the eruption the Brewer instrument is capable of detecting significant columnar SO2increases, exceeding on average 2-DU relative to an unperturbed pre-volcanic 10-day baseline, with a mean close to 0 and σ Combining double low line 0.46, as calculated from the 32 Brewer stations under study. Intercomparisons with independent measurements from the ground and space as well as theoretical calculations corroborate the capability of the Brewer network to detect volcanic plumes. For instance, the comparison with OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) and GOME-2 (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2) SO2space-borne retrievals shows statistically significant agreement between the Brewer network data and the collocated satellite overpasses in the case of the Kasatochi eruption. Unfortunately, due to sparsity of satellite data, the significant positive departures seen in the Brewer and other ground networks following the Eyjafjallajökull, Bár∂arbunga and Nabro eruptions could not be statistically confirmed by the data from satellite overpasses. A model exercise from the MACC (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate) project shows that the large increases in SO2over Europe following the Bár∂arbunga eruption in Iceland were not caused by local pollution sources or ship emissions but were clearly linked to the volcanic eruption. Sulfur dioxide positive departures in Europe following Bár∂arbunga could be traced by other networks from the free troposphere down to the surface (AirBase (European air quality database) and EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network)). We propose that by combining Brewer data with that from other networks and satellites, a useful tool aided by trajectory analyses and modelling could be created which can also be used to forecast high SO2values both at ground level and in air flight corridors following future eruptions. © Author(s) 2017